Drug bust nets 702 pounds of marijuana at Santa Teresa port

SANTA TERESA — Federal officers at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry over the weekend seized 701.5 pounds of marijuana and arrested a 55-year-old man from Oregon.

The seizure happened around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, when a 2005 Ford F-350 flatbed truck entered the port from Mexico.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer interviewed the driver and detected a number of problems during the primary inspection. The officer selected the vehicle for a more stringent review, according to a news release.

CBP officers conducted an "intrusive examination" of the vehicle, revealing a "non-factory compartment" underneath the bed of the truck, the agency said. CBP officers drilled the compartment and extracted a green substance, which tested positive for marijuana.

CBP officers then X-rayed the truck, which showed anomalies in the bed. Officers dismantled the bed and found 10 large metal boxes of tightly compressed marijuana. The 10 bales of marijuana weighed 701.5 pounds.

CBP officers took custody of the driver — 55-year-old Jose Manuel Gomez Serrano — a legal permanent resident from Portland, Ore., according to the agency.

Gomez Serrano was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, arrested on federal smuggling charges and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center, according to a news release.

"While anti-terrorism is the primary mission of U.S.

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Customs and Border Protection, the inspection process at the ports of entry associated with this mission results in impressive numbers of enforcement actions in all categories," the agency said in a news release.